Love is Never Easy
by FanficsGirl101
Summary: Ellie Mae Byrne is Michael Byrne's niece. After reacting badly to her parent's divorce, Ellie moves up to Greenock, Scotland to stay with her uncle, where she attends Waterloo Road. But what happens when Ellie suddenly finds herself attracted to two boys there. The nice, kind, Kevin Skelton and the bad boy, Barry Barry. Who will she choose?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: First Day

I sat on the side of the bed, just looking at the window, but not really seeing out of it at all. my move to Sctoland hadn't been because of just a change. It had been because I was getting too affected by my mom and dad's divorce, so I had been sent to live with my mom's brother, Michael, who had just opened a new school in Greenock. I had moved in just two days ago and I already felt this place was a better place for me. Although I did miss Shannon and Heather a lot too.

"Ellie, you awake?" Michael's voice came from outside of my bedroom door. I turned to look at it. "Yeah, I am," I replied. Michael opened the door slightly, then fully and gave me a small smile. "First day then," He said, holding out a cup of coffee. I took it gratefully and blew on it, then sipped cautiously. "Yeah, but strangly, Michael, I'm not nervous. I mean, I just feel relieved I don't have to go down stairs to listen to Mom and Dad shouting or Mom moaning about the divorce." Michael gave my shoulder a pat and sat down next to me.

"Ellie, I know it's been stressful for you. But think about how they feel. They could see it was wearing you down. That's why they've sent you up here. Bad choice really. I know nothing about teenagers, but still..." I gave a small chuckle. "That's better, now, you'd better get ready, we're leaving in about an hours time," Michael warned. I nodded and he got up and left me once more. I sighed, took one last look at the window and got up to go to my ensuite bathroom to get ready.

* * *

"Right, here we are..." Michael said as we pulled into the car park of the school. "Ellie, welcome to Waterloo Road," I opened the door and got out, leaning back in to get my bag and then swung it onto my left shoulder. A few boys playing football in the corner, looked at me, whilst a a blonde haired girl and a red haired girl stood, smiling at me. A familiar face of Sian Diamond came down the steps towards me with a huge smile on her face.

"Ellie!" She called, giving me a warm hug. "Hey, Sian," I replied. "Well, you certainly look like a pupil of Waterloo Road," She commented, taking in the black pinfore and black that covered a white blouse and red and yellow tie. "Come on, I've got your timetable and planner and stuff ready for you inside," We all went inside with other pupils around whispering and talking about 'the new girl'.

* * *

"So, Ellie, you're in English Litature with Mr Budgeon and English Language with , then Maths with Mr Chalk and Miss Seyer, Chemistry and Biology with me, Physics with Mr Hemmings, that's your core subjects sorted," Sian said. I nodded. "And for your options, Music with Mr Latoner, Art with Miss Grimsby, History with and Spanish with Miss Moyontal." "Spanish, really?" Michael asked, glancing from his computer screen.

"What's wrong with Spanish?!" I asked him. "Nothing, I never had much time for it myself," Michael replied, sorting through a pile of papers. "So, I can go?" I asked Sian, who nodded. "You're in Calculus first, I'll walk with you and introduce you," Sian replied. I put my planner and timetable in my bag and followed Sian to the door.

"Ellie!" Michael called after me. I turned to him. "Good luck and have a good day," I nodded and smiled and followed Sian through the office, smiling at the receptionist as I went past and down the stairs.

* * *

"Right here we go!" Sian said, pausing outside a classroom door. She nodded and opened the door. "Daniel, I've got Ellie Mae Byrne here," She said. I peeked in and saw a class full of boys and girls turning to look at me. The blond girl from that morning was there and she smiled warmly at me again. "Oh, okay, well, Ellie, if you want to sit next to Scout and Lulu and I'll get you an exercise book and sort you out with the work we've done this term already," He said with a pleasant smile. I walked across the classroom and sat in the seat that Mr Chalk had pointed to, which happened to be next to the blonde girl.

"I'm Scout, or Jodie Allen and this is Lulu Tsibi," Scout pointed to the girl on the other side of me. I gave Lulu a small smile, which she returned with a big one. "I'm Ellie Mae Byrne. Mr Byrne's niece," I said. Scout's eyes got wide and I giggled quietly. Moments later, the rest of the class was set work to do quietly, whilst Mr Chalk pulled me up to the front. He handed me an exercise book and then opened a textbook of Calculus to the contents page.

"So, Ellie, we've been working on PreCalculus, so we've covered Graph of a Function, Linear Functions and Secants and Slopes," He told me. "Have you been doing this at your old school?" "Yeah, pretty much the same topics except I haven't learnt about Secants yet," I replied. He smiled. "Well, you don't have a lot to catch up on, which is good. So, your homework from me today is to just take this textbook away with you and learn about Secants and do the questions on the topic page. You can hand it in by next Monday and any problems just let me know and we can go over stuff one lunchtime or after school one day," Mr Chalk said. I smiled.

"Thanks, Mr Chalk," "Oh, call me Chalky, everyone else does," I nodded and walked back to my seat. As I sat down, I noticed a boy in the back corner of the classroom, watching me. Our eyes met and we both looked away quickly. I grabbed my pencil case out of my bag and wrote on the front cover of my exercise book

_Ellie Mae Byrne,_

_Calculus, _

_Mr Chalk_

I then opened the textbook and began to read about Secants carefully.

* * *

"So, You're Mr Byrne's niece?" Scout asked as we walked to where we was meeting a friend of Scout's called Rhiannon. "Yeah, I'm Mr Byrne's niece..." I said, dragging it out and laughing. It went silent for a monet as we fought our way through a group of girls giggling in the hallway. "Ellie, can I ask why you're living with your Uncle... Is your Mom and Dad...?" She trailed off. I shook my head quickly. "No, no, no! Can we sit down somewhere to talk?" I asked, not really wanting to shout everything out. Scout nodded and pulled me into an empty classroom.

"Okay, talk," She said. I sat down on a desk, putting my bag next to me. "About a year ago, Mom and Dad started to row more than usual. I mean, they'd had a few minor rows before, mostly if they were drunk or something, but these rows were vicious, they were deliberately trying to hurt each other it seemed with the insults. Then... after one big row about two months ago... my Dad went to stay at a mate's place. No words and I woke up on a Saturday to find them in the kitchen, sitting down..." I took a deep breath and Scout sat down next to me.

"I thought, maybe things were getting better, they had sorted things out, but obviously not because they sat me down and told me they were getting divorced and it wasn't my fault and I musn't ever think that and they still both loved me alot but they just didn't love each other anymore," I finished with a sigh. "But why move up here then to stay with your uncle?" "Well, I've been just... down recently. Really down. I couldn't concentrate on anything with all the divorce stuff going on and anyway, Mom's planning on selling the house in Manchester and moving up here. But they all decided that me coming up a few weeks or months early wouldn't do no harm," Scout nodded and then rubbed my arm.

"I'm sorry about your Mom and Dad. I really am." She said. I nodded and gave her a smile. "Come on, let's go find your friend," I said and left the empty classroom feeling a lot more closer to being friends.

* * *

"Well, here comes English Language!" I said, standing up. I noticed that neither Scout, Phoenix nor Rhiannon got up with me. "Oh please tell me one of you have E.L with me?" I asked. Scout shook her head. "Sorry, Ellie, we don't but I'll walk with you to the classroom," She said. "Or she can walk with us?" A female voice asked from behind me. I turned to see two boys and girl standing looking at me. One of the boys was in Calculus with me this morning, the same one who had been staring at me.

"Hey, I'm Imogen Stewart and this is my boyfriend Connor Mulgrew and this is-" "Kevin Skelton," The boy from Calculus put in before Imogen could say his name herself. I smiled at them. "I'm Ellie Mae Byrne and yes, Michael Byrne is related to me. He's my uncle," "It's alright, you won't be judged by us. Your next teacher is my mom," Connor said. I gaped at him.  
"Ms Mulgrew is your mom?" I asked. Connor laughed and nodded.  
"Come on, we're going to be late," Imogen said. I said goodbye to Scout, Phoenix and Rhiannon and then followed Kevin and Connor,  
with Imogen walking beside me, just chatting casually.

We walked into English Lanuage and was one of the firsts to arrive. Fortunately Ms Mulgrew, or Connor's mom was already there.  
"Mom?"  
"Yes dear?"  
"This is Ellie Mae Byrne. She's just started here today," Connor said, motioning to me. Ms Mulgrew turned around and smiled at me  
warmly.  
"Ah, yes, Tom briefed me this morning. Ellie, I'm Ms. Mulgrew and also Connor's mom, but I guess he's already told you.  
Welcome to English Language and Waterloo Road. Take a seat next to... Kevin. I'll get you an exercise book and a copy of  
Great Expectations." I nodded and sat down next to Kevin, who gave me a nervous smile.  
"Kevin, go over with her briefly what we've been covering and if you have any notes, lend them her to copy and catch up on."

She instructed Kevin. Then she turned back to me with an exercise book and Great Expectations copy. I took them off her and place them on the  
desk.  
"Ellie, I'll go over everything with you as soon as I've set the class with some work to do quietly. Don't worry, we'll  
make sure you've missed nothing,"  
"Thank you," I replied. I turned to Kevin.  
"So, you're my tutor for the lesson, then?" I asked him grinning.  
"Yeah, it seems that way," He replied, opening his book and pushing it closer to me to explain the work.


	2. Chapter 2

It was lunch and so far I had been making friends with pretty much everyone. But I felt that me, Scout and Rhiannon was probably  
going to be closest.  
"So, how was the scan?" Scout asked a girl called Jade who was walking with us to the canteen where we was meeting everyone. Jade smiled and immediately her right hand placed itself on her slightly rounded stomach.  
"You're pregnant!?" I gasped. Jade and Scout looked at me worried.  
"Erm, yes. It's a long story... and you're going to judge me for it..." She trailed off, no longer smiling. I touched her arm.  
"Judge you for making the hardest, yet most rightest decision of your life? Jade, I may not know you and I don't know the back story, but I'm really admiring you right now!" I explained. Jade started to beam and Scout just smiled and nodded her head.  
"Thanks, Ellie. That means a lot," She said.  
"Well, let's get food!"Scout said as we entered the canteen. I smiled and grabbed a salad off of the counter,then moved along, leaving Scout and Jade to get hot food.  
"Ellie! We sit in the far corner! Harley, Phoenix's brother's already there!" Scout called to me. I smiled and nodded,then headed to the table that Scout pointed out. As I approached it, Harley looked up, then smiled.  
"You must be...Ellie. Pheonix told me to look out for you to say 'Hi'," He said. I nodded and sat down.  
"I have gotta admit, I didn't even realise Phoenix had a brother until a moment ago," I said. Harley laughed.  
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?" He asked after a few moments. I shook my head no.  
"I did always think that a little brother or sister would always be nice... But now that my Mom and Dad are getting a divorce..." I trialed off  
and Harley nodded. Suddenly I jumped as a bag hit the chair next to me. Connor, Kevin and Imogen had arrived.  
"Rabbit food, really?" kevin asked, looking at my salad.  
"Eating healthy never hurts," I commented.  
"And what's the real reason?" Imogen said, teasingly.  
"They have a cheerleading team here, don't they?" I asked. Connor nodded. "Well, at my last school... I was Captain  
of the Cheerleading Squad," I explained quietly.  
"That's great, Ellie!" Scout said excitedly from behind me.  
"Yeah, but the Cheerleading Captain here is Gemmaline Holderon. She's a total bitch, Ellie. And with your looks and personality, she'll  
see you as an instant threat,"  
"Basically Emmaline's the 'queen bee' of year 13's," Imogen said. I scoffed.  
"Well, I'm getting on that team and I don't care how she takes it. I do it for joy and talent, not because it boosts my  
popularity stakes and boys I've slept with list," I said, getting up to throw my salad pot in the nearest bin. I walked back to the  
table and picked up my bag.  
"Who is in charge of the cheerleading squad? Teacher-wise?" I asked.  
"Miss Pertune, she'll be in the staffroom," Kevin pointed out. I nodded and shouted goodbye.

* * *

I knocked on the door of the staffroom and was shocked when Lorraine Donnegan popped her head around the door.  
"Ellie!" She cried and gave me a tight hug. "Are you okay? Anyone giving you trouble?"  
"No, no. Is Miss Pertune in there?" I asked. She nodded and then nodded her head again to walk in. I walked in and  
instantly Michael and Sian looked up.  
"Ellie's here to see Miss Pertune," Lorraine explained from behind me. A young brunette woman stood up, wearing trackies  
and a hoodie.  
"I'm guessing you're wanting to see about cheerleading?" She said with a smile. I nodded. "Yes, I thought so. Michael's already  
told me and that's fine. How long have you been doing it for?"  
"Erm since I was twelve," I replied.  
"And Dance too?" Miss Pertune said with a glance to Michael.  
"Yeah," A man in the corner whistled through his teeth. I recognised him to be Grantly Budgeon.  
"There is finally a pupil here that has some sense of perspective of life, rather than usual hooligans who spend their  
free time drinking, smoking and doing drugs,"  
"Well,Ellie,you must be impressive, you've managed to get a decent comment about pupil of this school out of Grantly," A  
younger,rather good looking man said. He stood up and walked over to me. "Tom Clarkson,"  
"Hi," I said,guessing he would already know who I was.  
"How's your day going?" Michael piped up. I nodded.  
"It's going well. I've made friends with Jodie Allen and Rhiannon Salt. And some of her friends too," I replied. Mrs Mulgrew  
looked up from the corner.  
"And you never said, Michael, the potential in this girl. Her English skills are fantastic," She said, giving me a warm  
smile.  
"I agree. Her Maths knowledge is great," Chalky said. I blushed slightly and Lorraine gave me a side hug.  
"Good, good. Just don't let it lag," Michael said, standing up and hugging me tightly. He kissed the top of my head and  
then let me go.  
"And she even lets adult family members kiss and hug her in public! Is she alien?" Tom remarked, causing Sian to swat him  
with a paper.  
"Erm, Ellie, Sian's coming around for dinner tonight. Is that okay?" Michael asked. I looked between them and gasped.  
"You're... going out?" I asked. Then laughed. "Aww, that's brilliant! Of course I'm alright with that!" I looked at the clock  
and saw it was mearly form. "Oh, flipping hell! It's form time!"  
"That's okay,sweetheart. You're in my tutor group. We'll walk down there together," Tom said. I nodded. I gave Michael a kiss  
on the cheek and followed Tom out of the door.  
"Michael's happier you know. Him and Sian got together, but recently, definitely happier," Tom said. I nodded and smiled gently.  
"To be honest... I'm happier here." I replied. Tom nodded slowly, then pushed opened the classroom door on his right and motioned for me  
to walk in first. As soon as I walked in I noticed a dark haired boy, who turned and stared at me carefully.  
"Right! Everyone sit down... Ellie can you sit next to Dynasty please," Tom said and I sat down next to a girl who gave me  
a look up and down, then a pleased smile.  
"Mr Clarkson,who's the new fittie?!" The dark haired boy said, giving me a glance again. I shook my head softly.  
"Ignore him, babe. He's my brother, Barry Barry," The girl next to me said. I smiled gently and looked down.


End file.
